DOI: 10.30792/2949-5768-2024-8-186-198
WAYS TO SOLVING THE EASY PROBLEM OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THERAVADA BUDDHISM
Vorobyov Valery Vladimirovich – Junior Researcher at the Scientific Laboratory «Comprehensive Buddhist Studies» of the Kalmyk State University named after B. B. Gorodovikov (Elista, Russia).
E-mail: aristoteleus@yandex.com.
The article is devoted to analyzing two main approaches to the study of consciousness proposed by philosopher David Chalmers: the third-person approach and the first-person approach. The first approach, characteristic of the Western scientific tradition, views consciousness through objective observation and physical correlates such as neural activity and behavior. The second approach, proposed by Descartes, explores consciousness through subjective experience and internal states. Theravada Buddhist philosophy, which offers an alternative view of the nature of consciousness where subjective experience is explained through an objective continuous stream of moments, is also considered. The article emphasizes the importance of a comprehensive study of consciousness that combines both approaches to better understand its nature and to explain difficult problems of consciousness, such as qualia and free will.
